Dubai A former Deyaar CEO has been accused of corruption for the fifth time.

American-Lebanese businessman Z.S. is charged with causing an intentional loss of public funds while renting a building from a former top official.

The Dubai Public Funds Prosecution said 48-year-old Z.S. and his successor as CEO of Deyaar, German M.G., deliberately lost Dh4.5 million between January 2008 and February 2010, while working for the property company which is 41 per cent owned by Dubai Islamic Bank.

Z.S. is currently in detention while trials are prepared in four other cases dating back to early 2008 before the three different benches of judges at the Dubai Court of First Instance.

Z.S. and 44-year-old M.G. will stand trial on Wednesday accused of the loss of Dh1.2 million and Dh3.3 million respectively.

Feasibility study

According to the arraignment sheet, prosecutors said Z.S. and M.G. rented a residential building owned by DIFC's former governor, Emirati O.B., in Al Nahda between January 15, 2008 and February 28, 2010.

In his capacity as CEO, Z.S. rented the building for Dh10 million although a feasibility study conducted at the time concluded it would not bring Deyaar any profit.

Z.S. is said to have rented the building anyway, giving O.B. a profit of Dh1.2 million.

When M.G. succeeded Z.S. as Deyaar's CEO, prosecutors said the German renewed the building's rent for the same price, which gave O.B. a profit of Dh3.3 million, again causing Deyaar to lose money.

According to prosecution records, M.G. was aware that Deyaar had lost Dh1.2 million on the deal the year before.

Potential loss

A chief supervisor from the financial control department of the Ruler's Court testified that internal audit reports confirmed the two suspects were responsible for the financial irregularities, which represented an abuse of their office.

The supervisor claimed during prosecution questioning that Z.S. disregarded the feasibility study which warned of the potential loss.

He further claimed that M.G. did exactly the same thing when it came to renewing the tenancy contract.

The Public Funds Prosecution heard evidence from five prosecution witnesses before referring the suspects to court.

Prosecutors have asked for the implementation of the toughest punishment applicable.